They died together, but so alone

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The invalid pensioner Angeliki Pitsios lived with her son Rigas
for more than two decades in Acacia Street, Rooty Hill, yet no one
really knew them. She was 94 and he was 61.

He was her sole carer. She relied on him to be fed and for her
medication and trips to see her doctor.

But their contentment with a reclusive life, police believe, has
proved a tragic indictment on today's society. On Monday their
decomposed bodies were found inside their home at least a month
after it is believed they died.

And police investigating the deaths now believe Mrs Pitsios came
to die agonisingly from thirst and starvation. She had fallen out
of her wheelchair after her son died inside the house, either from
an accident or after suffering a seizure, police believe.

When Mrs Pitsios emerged on rare occasions from the house to
travel the 10 metres to her son's car using a walking frame it was
a painful sight - a tiny bent woman struggling one step at a time
while her son supported her.

But most times she was wheelchair-bound, spending her days
sitting in the near-spartan lounge room of the home staring out the
window when she was not watching television, the top of which was
cluttered with medications. That is how she saw the world and how
their neighbours of Acacia Street viewed the pair, believed to
originally be from Greece.

Forty-eight hours after they were discovered, police had not
been able to locate any next of kin.

Detective Chief Inspector Luke Moore said Mr Pitsios was found
dead in a tub. His mother was found dead on the lounge room floor a
short distance from her wheelchair.

Mr Moore said autopsies found nothing suspicious as to causes of
death, and there was no sign of forced entry to the home. Mount
Druitt detectives are investigating theories that Mr Pitsios
slipped while getting out of the bath and struck his head, or that
he struck his head after a seizure.

Further tests, including toxicology, were being conducted.

And he reflected on how they were not missed for so long, the
bodies only being discovered by an elderly neighbour who became
concerned that newspapers and letters were piling up on the front
door and yard, the lawn of which had become overgrown.

"It doesn't appear that they were not well known to their
neighbours. They were relatively reclusive and seemed to enjoy
that. It is sad for people to be in this situation [to die and have
nobody know]," Mr Moore said.

Rob Forsythe, the Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, said of the
tragedy: "No one should be able to be dead for a month and not
noticed. It says that it's a big city in which individuals can fall
through the cracks and get lost."

The Reverend Bill Crews, of the Exodus Foundation, said: "It's
critically important for us to reach across the fence and say hello
to our neighbours and say, 'how are you?' " Both spoke to Channel
Seven.

Neighbours expressed shock yesterday that their deaths had gone
unnoticed. Most were at work when police crime scene officers and
detectives arrived at the red brick and tiled corner house shortly
after 10am on Monday.

Retired ambulance officer Cec Salmon, 82, who lived opposite the
house, raised the alarm with police. Mr Salmon said he had gone to
the front door and peered into the lounge room, but did not see Mrs
Pitsios lying on the carpet. He noticed a stench and saw flies at
the window.

"I was concerned about the papers and letters not being touched.
Their car had not gone out of the driveway for a few weeks and that
worried me too," Mr Salmon said.

"My neighbour Paul and other neighbours always look out for me
and I watch their homes and collect their mail when they go on
holidays, but they never asked for anything," he said.

"I hadn't seen them for a couple of weeks," he said. "[Mr
Pitsios] usually mows his lawn. But I've never seen the grass grow
so high in the time I've been here.

"If I was out watering my garden, I'd often see him and he would
shout: 'Hello neighbour, how is your wife?'

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1130239521742-smh.com.auhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/national/they-died-together-but-so-alone/2005/10/25/1130239521742.htmlsmh.com.auSydney Morning Herald2005-10-26They died together, but so aloneLes KennedyNationalhttp://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/10/25/rootyhill_wideweb__430x269.jpg